'The family is both proud of Nachiketa and concerned about his well-being'

Amberish K Diwanji in Delhi

Flight Lieutenant K Nachiketa today celebrated his 25th birthday
in a place he'd never want to visit again: a Pakistan prison. This young air force officer, captured by the
Pakistani security forces after he parachuted across the
Line of Control following engine failure in his MiG-21, is
reportedly safe and sound. The Indian Air Force is
awaiting his handover to the Indian side.

Today, Nachiketa's two sisters left for the Adampur airbase
to join their parents who are already there, awaiting the
return of their only son. "The sisters and the parents are
quite fine, just worried about their son," said Srirama
Murthy, father-in-law of Nachiketa's sister Trisandhya.
"Right now, the family is both proud of Nachiketa and
concerned about his well-being," he added.

Tragically, Nachiketa's colleague, Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, was not so
lucky. Though he too ejected from his missile-hit aircraft, a
MiG-27, he was reportedly shot dead on landing across the
Line of Control. The post-mortem report spoke of three
grievous wounds:

1. There is a penetrating gunshot wound; entry near right
ear, exit near the external orifice of left ear.

"The left knee fracture was probably sustained when he
parachuted down, but the gunshots show that he landed alive
and was done to death," said Air Vice Marshal S K Malik,
director of operations, Air Headquarters.

The IAF has not revealed how it plans to respond to this
"cold blooded murder" and has for the present "strongly
condemned the action".

But it compared the action to the Kosovo case where three
NATO air force jets were shot down and the pilots captured
by Yugoslavia. "The three pilots were returned to NATO
unharmed even though they were bombing Yugoslavia. Our
pilots were only carrying out missions on our side of the
border and hence there is no justification for this cruel
murder," stated AVM Malik.

The wreckage of the ill-fated helicopter shot down
by a Stinger missile fired by the infiltrators is on the
verge of being found. The bodies of four more IAF personnel,
two officers and two gunners, who were in the helicopter are
likely to be brought to Kargil and then to Srinagar today or
early tomorrow.

The four men have been identified as Squadron Leader Rajiv
Pundir, 37 years old; Flight Lieutenant S Muhilan, 27; Air
Sergeant Pilla Venkata Narayan Ravi, 33 (born on August 15,
1965); and Sergeant Raj Kishore Sahu, 28.

The army today lost an officer, Major M Sarvanan of the 1st
Bihar Regiment, in hand-to-hand action in the Batalik
sector. Leading a company of around 70 to 80 men, his troops
encircled around 15 to 20 infiltrators who held a mountain
peak and attacked the enemy, claiming five enemy lives.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister George Fernandes continues to
embarrass his colleagues and defence officers. Yesterday,
Fernandes had declared that air strikes against the
intruders had been suspended and only reconnaissance
missions were being carried. However, today AVM Malik
categorically asserted that no such suspension had been
ordered.

"We are carrying out, and will continue to carry out, both
reconnaissance missions and air strikes. Over the past 24
hours, due to bad weather, we carried out fewer missions,
but we did not suspend them. The number of such air strikes
will always vary to ensure that there remains the element of
surprise but they will continue till the army achieves its
mission of recovering all the lost territory," he declared.

The army asserted that it was closing in on the enemy and
though it refused to give a timeframe, its officers exuded
confidence of the mission completing soon. "We accept that
the intruders are likely to be reinforced but given the
altitude and difficult logistics, in the end we will
prevail," said Major General J J Singh, additional director
general of military operations.

While the Line of Control from Drass to Batalik is at a
height of 15,000 to 18,000 feet, on both sides of the
mountain peaks, the valleys descend down to 12,000 feet,
making it difficult for both sides to sustain the
operations.

A source close to military intelligence said that
sometime early next week, the army is likely to declared
that all the intruders had been driven back and all the
territory held by them has been recovered. Air operations
too would be stopped save for helicopter missions to support
the ground troops, he added.

"While what the army will say will not be wrong, it might be
an exaggeration. It is unlikely that all the land right up
to the LoC can be recovered so soon. In fact, the closer we
get to the LoC, the more difficult it is for us and the
easier it is for Pakistan to support and sustain the
intruders. So the enemy might still be about half to one
kilometre inside. Reclaiming that portion can well take up
to September," he warned.

Still, the source said there was nothing to worry about.
"Let Pakistan discover the cost of continuously supporting
troops in the high mountains, like we do in Siachen. They
will find that is better to attack and withdraw rather than
attack and hold on. Because holding is very expensive and
since our operations will remain on our side of the border,
we can then always choose the timing of attack," he added.